Bow Low Before Tebow

As the person supposedly responsible for covering the sports beat here on Power Line (but obviously really really poorly), I have to confess that I don’t understand the Broncos dumping Tim Tebow. I can see taking a flyer on Peyton Manning, but even if his neck is fully healed (risky assumption all around, I’ve heard several doctors say), how many more seasons can Manning be expected to play at the top of his game?

I know the knock on Tebow not fitting the profile of a successful NFL quarterback, but didn’t anyone notice that the guy had a strange habit of winning games, because, as John pointed out here during the season, he’s a leader? Mightn’t he have been a worthy apprentice to Manning, who could surely teach Tebow many useful things? Is it really Tebow’s highest and best use to be a back up to Mark Sanchez, or some kind of wildcat formation role player? (Now, I might change my mind if the Jets do something really mind blowing like having Tebow and Sanchez in at the same time, with some sets and razzle-dazzle plays to confuse and confound defenses.) Might the game evolve yet again? It wasn’t that long ago—or that many rules changes ago—that running dominated the game. How do we know Tebow won’t change the game, the way George Mikan changed NBA basketball (that’s a sort of shoutout to Minnesota old-timers)?

It would serve Denver right if they acquired a Red Sox-like curse, because they may have just traded away the NFL’s version of Babe Ruth.